


You Make Me Feel Like I am Home (Part two)

by jeweldancer



Series: You Make Me Feel Like I am Home [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Food, I mean these guys eat all the time, M/M, Mention of death of parent, Paramedic Dean, Prostitution, Protective Dean Winchester, Star Wars - Freeform, minor injury, sex worker cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 23:06:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13600350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeweldancer/pseuds/jeweldancer
Summary: Castiel would not under any circumstances think of Dean. Last night had been nice, but he’d never see Dean again. Cas squared his shoulders and started toward the stairwell. It was too bad that he couldn’t take Dean’s jacket with him, but no one would pick up a guy in a hoodie. He trotted down the steps into the bracing twilight, and took up his regular place.





	You Make Me Feel Like I am Home (Part two)

Castiel shuffled up the stairs. He’d gotten more sleep than usual, but he was still tired. He couldn’t remember what it was like not to be tired. 

“Out all night, I see, Clarence.” Meg appeared behind him, poking Castiel’s shoulder. “Where’d you get that ugly-ass jacket?”

“Stole it off a dead guy.” Cas grinned at her, and Meg rolled her eyes. 

“Whatever, asshole. You all right?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Never better. Gonna go get some beauty sleep.”

“You’ll be sleeping for awhile, then,” Cas called after her.

“Watch your back, Clarence!”

“Jesus.” Ruby’s sleepy voice came from a nearby doorway. “Can you two shut the fuck up?”

“Good morning to you too, sunshine!” Meg yelled from down the hall.

Ruby made an obscene gesture, and slammed her bedroom door.

Cas stepped softly into his room, kicking off his shoes. Thanks to Dean, he didn’t have to scrounge up something for breakfast. He dug through the dresser drawer that held all his worldly goods, selecting a worn t-shirt advertising a classic rock station, and grey sweatpants that were fraying at the hem. He pulled out a paperback copy of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy from underneath the mattress, and drew the blanket over him. He’d read it so often that the words were comforting and familiar. 

This planet has-or rather had-a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much all of the time. 

“Tell me about it,” Castiel whispered. He made through only a few pages before he dozed off and dropped the book on his nose. He stuck the book in between the mattress and the wall, and settled in to sleep.

 

Castiel’s door creaked open, and a pillow flew across the room. “Wake up, sleeping beauty,” Meg called. “Must’ve been some night you had. You haven’t stirred all day.”

It was true, he usually didn’t sleep straight through. Cas usually woke at some point due to hunger or discomfort. A night’s rest on a good mattress and two decent meals had made him feel human again. 

Meg stomped across the room and retrieved her pillow. “C’mon, Cas. If you don’t get moving you won’t have time to eat anything.”

He made his way out to the kitchenette. Pickings were slim, as usual. The bread was stale, so he decided to toast it, and top it with a bit of grape jelly. The jelly jar was getting low, and there were almost more bread crumbs than jelly in it. Cas ate standing at the kitchen counter, and finished with a glass of water. He washed out the glass and put on the sideboard to drain, and returned to his bedroom. He slid into his tightest jeans and a black, v-neck t-shirt, and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. 

He would not under any circumstances think of Dean. Last night had been nice, but he’d never see Dean again. Cas squared his shoulders and started toward the stairwell. It was too bad that he couldn’t take Dean’s jacket with him, but no one would pick up a guy in a hoodie. 

Meg ran up and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek. “Careful, Clarence.”

“Same to you.” Castiel trotted down the steps and out into the bracing twilight, taking up his regular place. He heard a piercing whistle, and looked across the street to see Dean leaning up against his car, waiting. Castiel felt an unfamiliar, dangerous warmth blooming in his chest.

“Hey, man, you’re late.”

Cas crossed the street slowly, forcing himself not to run. Don’t look desperate. “I didn’t think you’d be back.”

Surprise flickered across Dean’s face. “I told you I would.”

“I get told a lot of things.”

“Yeah. I guess you do.” Dean looked down at the street for a moment, then brightened. “So, is the same place okay?”

“Fine by me, Mr. Moneybags.”

“Well, get in. Hey, where’s the jacket I gave you?”

“I’m not gonna get picked up wearing an old hoodie.”

“It’s vintage, Cas! Like Baby here.” Dean fired up the engine. “Put on your seat belt, man.”

Cas rolled his eyes and complied. As they left Cas’s street behind, he relaxed into the leather seat. He already felt comfortable. Safe.

“So, listen, man, here’s what I was thinking. Do you like Star Wars?” Dean drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

“You want me to dress up like Han Solo?”

Dean laughed nervously. “Tempting offer, but no. There’s a Star Wars marathon on tonight, and I thought we might pick up a pizza, go back to the hotel, and binge watch. How does that sound?”

Cas squinted at him. “You’re the one who’s paying, you get to decide.”

Dean sighed. “Look, Cas, I know this is a weird situation, but I want to do something that you might enjoy. Or at least won’t make you miserable. So give me a straight answer here.”

Cas grinned slightly. “I do like Star Wars.”

“Cool, cool.” Dean looked relieved. “And do you like pizza?”

“Everyone likes pizza. As long as it doesn’t have pineapple.”

“Good thing we agree on that. I ordered a half pepperoni and half mushroom. Just in case you’re a vegetarian or something.”

Cas barked out a laugh. “I eat whatever I can get, mostly. But yes, pepperoni and mushroom are fine.”

“Great!” Dean smiled like a kid on Christmas morning. “We might be a little early for the pizza. The place I ordered from is really good, but they’re slow.”

“What’s time to a pig?” Castiel replied, and saw Dean side-eyeing him. “It’s a joke, Dean.”

“I know it’s a joke. It’s not funny.” They pulled into the parking lot of the pizza place, and Dean looked Cas up and down. “Damn, man, those are the tightest jeans I’ve ever seen. Do you still have circulation to your legs?”

“Shut up. This happens to be my most popular outfit.”

“Well, it ain’t gonna work for watching movies and eating pizza. C’mon, we’ll go over to the dollar store while we wait.”

Castiel followed him across the parking lot, bemused. Dean led him to the clothing section. “There! Pajamas. Just the thing for binge watching. What do you want?”

Cas was confused. “I don’t know, Dean. What do you want me to look like?”

Dean huffed. “Shit, Cas, that don’t matter! Just whatever’s comfortable.”

Castiel looked over the display shelves slowly, finally selecting a pair of flannel pajama pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt. He looked at Dean for approval. “Fine by me, man. C’mon, I’m hungry.”

On the way out, Dean also picked up a travel kit with toothbrush and other necessities, a box of granola bars, and a reusable shopping bag. “Here, Cas. You can put your stuff in this, and carry it back and forth.”

Cas rolled his eyes. “I can’t start packing an overnight bag every time I leave, Dean. People will get suspicious.”

“They watch you that close?” Cas nodded. “Well, you can leave it in the Impala, then.”

“What’s an Impala?”

“Damn! It’s my car. Only the greatest car of all time, man.”

“Oh. I thought an impala was some kind of African animal.”

After they checked out, he handed the bag to Cas. “The pizza should be ready. You wanna come in or wait in the car?”

Cas nodded toward the car.

“All right, man. Look after Baby til I get back.”

Cas slid into the passenger seat and amused himself by poking through the shopping bag. He couldn’t figure out what Dean’s deal was. What kind of man picked up a prostitute and bought him pajamas? Castiel heard the creak of the driver’s side door and jumped, quickly dropping the bag onto the seat.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to sneak up on ya.” Dean slid the pizza box into the back, and Castiel breathed in the wonderful smells. His stomach growled loudly, and he pushed his arm into his belly, trying to muffle the sound. “Cas? You had anything to eat since this morning?” 

Cas ducked his head, cheeks burning, but Dean reached into the back seat and brought up the pizza box. “Here ya go, Cas,” Dean told him gently. “Go ahead and get started on that.”

“I did have something to eat,” Cas protested. “I had toast.” He ran his fingers over the warm cardboard box, and peeked under the lid. The toasty pizza crust/melted cheese scent hit his nose, and Cas’s mouth watered. “I shouldn’t eat in your car. There’ll be crumbs.”

“It’s all right. Go ahead.” Dean nodded at him, and Cas slid out a slice from the pepperoni side, sitting it on the box top to cool for a minute. He nibbled at the slice gingerly, then threw caution to the wind. The pizza was so good he didn’t care if he burned his mouth. He glanced over at Dean, but he was looking over his shoulder to maneuver the Impala out of the parking space. Castiel took huge bites of the pizza, trying to finish it before Dean noticed. He was chewing on the crust and licking his fingers by the time Dean had pulled out onto the street and turned to look at him again. 

Dean grinned at him. “You eat the crust?”

Cas didn’t say that he was usually too hungry to throw away that much food. “Yeah. You don’t?”

“Nah. Too healthy. You do you, though.” He nodded at the pizza box. “Go on, have some more.” Cas hesitated, but ended up polishing off two more slices before they reached the motel. “All right, Cas, grab your stuff. If you eat too much more, you’re gonna bust out of those jeans.”

They had a different room this time, but it also had two beds. Castiel picked the one furthest from the door and dropped the shopping bag on it. The bag was made of a crackly vinyl, and was printed with a picture of a tree. Cas extracted the granola bars and toiletry kit from the bag and held them out toward Dean. 

“Those are yours. Put ‘em back in the bag. Like I said, you can keep it in the Impala. Maybe you can put one of the granola bars in your pocket to eat during the day. If you can fit anything in those pockets, that is.”

Cas picked up a pillow, whirled around, and flung it at Dean, who let it fall to the floor, mouth open in shock. Cas clapped a hand to his mouth. “Oh, shit, I’m sorry, Dean. I just…”

A smile spread across Dean’s face. “Hold up, Cas! It was funny. I was just surprised, is all. I’m glad you like me enough to joke around.”

Cas sank down on the edge of the bed and rubbed his eyes. His legs felt like jelly suddenly. Dean’s smile faded, and his brow furrowed. “Cas?” He sat on the opposite bed, not too close, and looked down at his knees for a moment. “Cas, listen. You know I’m not gonna hurt you. Right?”

Castiel let out a huge, shaky breath. When he lifted his head, Dean was looking at him with a softness that made his breath hitch. 

“All right, man. Why don’t you go take a shower and get comfortable. We’ll eat some more pizza when you’re done. I might even hit the vending machine, see if I can find us some Little Debbie cakes.”

“What about the movie marathon?”

“Hey now, don’t tell me you’ll be sad about missing The Phantom Menace.”

Castiel grinned in spite of himself. He clutched the shopping bag to his chest, wincing a little as it crackled loudly. 

Dean leaned back on the bed and opened the pizza box. “Take your time, man. It’s cool.” 

Castiel peeled off the bandage from his arm, wincing, and examined the scratches. Dean had done a good job; the redness had faded and the pain had subsided. Cas sighed with relief as he washed the injured area carefully. He fired up the shower, making the water as hot as he could stand. 

After his shower, Cas ended up soaking in the tub for almost an hour, topping off with blasts of hot water as needed. He hadn’t felt so relaxed in a long while, but as he dressed in his pajamas, he found himself tensing up again. The slightly acrid smell of the dollar store clung to the new clothes, and Cas wished he could have washed them first. It’d been years since he’d had anything brand new. 

The toiletry kit contained shampoo, shower gel, deodorant, toothpaste/toothbrush, and a comb. Castiel ran the comb through his damp hair and looked at himself in the mirror, sighing. He’d stalled long enough; Dean would be wondering about him. Cas shuffled out of the bathroom, holding the shopping bag in front of him.

Dean looked up as soon as the bathroom door opened, and his eyes ran quickly over Cas’s pajamas. His face turned a pleased shade of pink, and he motioned toward the table. “Plenty more pizza, and Cokes, and I even found some chocolate chip cookies in the vending machine.” 

Cas felt his eyes sting. He had avoided that particular kind of cookie for years; they had been Gabriel’s specialty. He turned away so that Dean wouldn’t see. “Just a Coke for me, thanks.”

Cas popped open the can and took a long drink before settling on his bed. The pajamas were cozy, but his feet were cold, so he stuck his lower legs under the covers. He snuck a look at Dean, who was apparently absorbed in a commercial promising settlements for asbestos workers.

“So what were you doing on Magnolia last night? Since you weren’t in the market for...you know.”

Dean startled, then grinned. “Oh. I was dropping some stuff off at that Goodwill store. I moved recently, and I had some furniture and shit that I didn’t need anymore.”

“How’d you carry furniture in that car of yours?”

“I didn’t. My sister-in-law has a truck, and she hauled it over. Course, all that stuff had been sitting in her garage, so she had a vested interest in getting rid of it.”

It sounded plausible enough, and Cas relaxed a bit. The credits of the first movie ran along the screen. “What would she say if she knew you’d picked up a prostitute while you were down there?”

“She married my little brother, so she ain’t got a lot of room to talk.” Dean leaned back onto a mountain of pillows, and linked his hands behind his head.

“Dean.”

“I’m serious, Cas. Sam’s good-looking, but the kid turned out like a genetic experiment gone wrong. He’s like seven feet tall or something. Scares small children.” 

Cas huffed out a laugh in spite of himself. 

“What about you? Got any brothers or sisters? Friendly genetic mutants?”

Cas straightened the bedcovers. “Are we gonna watch Star Wars, or have a heart-to-heart?”

“Star Wars it is.” Dean turned up the volume a couple of notches. 

Cas daydreamed throughout the first few minutes of the movie--the prequels had never really held his interest, although he didn’t dislike them as much as some people. The next commercial break pulled him from his reverie, and he looked over at Dean. “Do you only have one sibling?”

“Oh, yeah. Just Sam. He’s four years younger than me. Graduated from law school last year. He got more than his share of the brains in the family.” 

“It’s good that you’re still close.” Cas leaned back on the headboard, and pulled the covers up to his chest. “Does your family get along with his wife?” It was probably an odd question, but Kali was the only experience Cas had ever had with a sister-in-law.

“Yeah, she’s cool. We pretty much grew up together. You know Ellen, that you met yesterday? That’s her mom. They’re a lot alike.”

“What about your parents?”

Dean cleared his throat. “They’re both gone.”

“I’m sorry, Dean.” The movie started again, and Cas sat there, staring at the television but not seeing anything. He took a deep breath. “My mother’s gone, too. And my dad...I haven’t seen him since I was a little kid.”

“So we’re a couple of orphans, then.” Dean gave him a lopsided smile. “We got a lot in common.”

Cas shrugged. 

“Right. No heart-to-hearts.” Dean glanced down, then brightened. “Hey, your arm looks a lot better, man. You mind if I see? Might need to be bandaged again.”

“It’s not necessary. I mean, I don’t mind if you look at it, but you don’t need to go and get your first aid kit.”

“S’okay. I brought it with me.” Dean vaulted up from the bed and extracted the kit from his duffle bag. “Is it okay if I sit on the edge of your bed?”

“Yeah.”

“Is it okay if I touch your arm?”

Cas nodded silently.

Dean grasped the underside of his arm with both hands, gently enough that Cas could have pulled away easily, if he wanted. He didn’t. Dean leaned down to examine the scratches, and for a wild moment Cas wondered if he would lean down far enough to kiss his arm. 

“Well, it’s not too bad, Cas. But I’d like to bandage it again to be sure.”

Cas liked the idea, of carrying something from Dean on his body, back to his real life. Of looking down at it and remembering that only a few hours before, someone had cared enough to try and make him feel better. “That’s fine.”

“All right. Do you need some more pain pills?”

Cas considered, then shook his head. “I don’t want to get used to them.”

“They’re not addictive, Cas. It’s only anti-inflammatories. Take ‘em if you need ‘em.”

There was no telling when he might get more, and he had plenty of aches other than the scratches. Cas nodded and held out his hand for the packet. 

“There we go. Now come on, man. Can’t let all this pizza go to waste.”

Castiel stayed up most of the night; Dean tried, but only made it halfway through A New Hope. It was warm in the room, his pajamas were warm, and the bed was soft. For right now, Cas’s world consisted of a few square feet, and he did not think about what the next day would hold.

Dean shook him awake at seven, and Cas stumbled to the bathroom to get ready. When he emerged, Dean was dressed and sitting in the only chair, his face serious. Castiel walked past him, not making eye contact, and started gathering his things. 

“Cas. Will you sit down a minute? Can we talk?”

Cas sat on the bed, his new bag gripped tightly in his hands, and stared at the floor.

“Listen, Castiel. Today’s Sunday, and I gotta be at work early tomorrow morning.”

Cas interrupted. “I got it, okay? Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“That ain’t what I meant. Just let me talk, okay?” Dean exhaled sharply. “If you don’t want to see me, I’ll drop you off and never bother you again. But I gotta say, it would hurt like hell to think I wouldn’t get to be around you anymore.”

Castiel froze. “Dean.”

“I like you, Cas, and I’d miss you. What I was gonna say is, it’ll be a little more complicated when I’ve got to work, but I’d still like to see you. If you want to see me. So.”

Cas let himself breathe again. “Yeah. I do. I want to.”

Dean smiled broadly, and it felt like the sun had risen, right there in a second-floor room of the Comfort Inn. “Let’s get going, then. Sunday breakfast at Ellen’s is the best. I’ll call ahead so we won’t have to wait.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm currently working on a long fic (after a while of being in a writing funk), and I decided to come back to this one because I needed the boost of actually being able to post something. Comments are soooo appreciated, and will help motivate me.


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